Queen of Pain
by amykay
Summary: Lady Jaye keeps reliving the worst day of her life. ETA Oops! Just realized the second to last chapter was never uploaded. It now has the real ending to the story :
1. Prologue

A/N: This story came about after watching Stargate SG-1's 'Window of Opportunity episode'. I wanted to see if I could make a GI Joe version, and here it is.

I want to thank Calcitrix for two awesome (and quick!) beta sessions, and to Nicole who pretty much gave me the whole idea for one of the later chapters.

Prologue

"This looks like the place," Flint announced as he maneuvered the VAMP through the dirt parking lot.

Lady Jaye looked out the open window and quickly wrinkled her nose. "It also smells like it."

Flint smiled as he reached over to squeeze her thigh. He then brought the VAMP to a stop, put the vehicle into park and shut off the engines. The two opened their respective doors and got out of the vehicle. As he walked towards her, Flint extended his arm to point out the rows of tents and booths laid out before them. "Well, it might not be as exotic as the Mediterranean but you can add a carnival to the list of places I've taken you."

A second VAMP pulled into the parking lot, kicking up a cloud of dust. Near one of the smaller tents, about ten yards from where they were standing, Lady Jaye noticed a group of midgets. From their animated hand gestures she guessed they were discussing the arrival of the Joes. She leaned in closer to Flint. "I think the term 'carnival' is too good of a word for this place. 'Traveling freak show' might be more appropriate."

The VAMP pulled up alongside them. Clutch and Gung-Ho exited and walked over to where Flint and Lady Jaye were standing. "This now officially sucks," Clutch said.

"Yes, we know," Gung-Ho replied. "And your constant belly-achin' ain't helping matters."

"Look, I know this isn't one of the better missions, but orders are orders," said Flint. "This little 'freak show' as Lady Jaye has coined it, is the perfect haven for the Dreadnoks. All we need to do is take an hour or two to see if we can smoke out our long-lost buddies. Everyone split up - talk to as many of the residents as possible and then meet back here."

Lady Jaye nodded and walked away to the sounds of Clutch arguing with Flint over the pointlessness of the mission. She agreed with Clutch, but she didn't feel the need to complain about it.

The midgets would have been the obvious first place to start, but they quickly scattered once she approached them. Instead of chasing them down, she took a quick look around the carnival to determine her next move. Towards her left was a series of booths containing the standard mix of carnival games.

She chose the first booth and smiled at the carnie who was sitting on the ledge. "Fair's closed," he told her. "Ain't open until tomorrow."

"I'm not here for the games, I'm looking for a couple of friends of mine," she replied. She kept the big grin on her face while she pulled out the intelligence photos of the Dreadnoks.

The carnie took a quick glance at the first photo. "Friends of yours, eh? Never seen 'em."

Lady Jaye decided to be persistent. "Are you sure? Did you get a good look at the photos? Last I heard they were looking for employment."

"Listen, lady, you and your army buddies should stop sniffing around here. These guys ain't here, and even if they were what makes you think we would tell you?"

"I thought you might want to help out a concerned woman. Sorry to bother you," Lady Jaye replied as she walked away.

As she continued down the path she noticed that as she approached each booth the carnie inside retreated into the shadows. Apparently the one had spoken for them all. None of the Joes had come out expecting to find any leads on the Dreadnoks. They had reports that two of the Dreadnoks, Buzzer and Torch, had for a short time traveled with this circus. They were probably long gone, but the Joes wanted to send the message that they were still on their tail.

After Lady Jaye passed the last of the game booths, she came to a colorful tent with a large sign claiming 'The World's Smallest Horse' was housed inside. She walked inside, and although there was a cage in the center, it was deserted. Shaking her head, she went back outside and noticed a much smaller tent across the way.

The signs on the booth announced that the gifted and talented Madame Fatima had been reading palms for over forty years. It reminded Lady Jaye of the time she was in elementary school, and one of her friends, Denise, had claimed that she developed a palm reading talent. Lady Jaye had allowed Denise to read her palm, but much to her dismay, Denise quickly announced that she would die at an early age. Lady Jaye remembered being quite upset for days afterwards.

"Care for a reading?" asked an elderly voice behind her.

Lady Jaye was startled from her thoughts, and quickly turned around. She came face to face with an old gypsy woman. "No thanks, I'm just…"

"The men you seek are no longer here," Madame Fatima interrupted. "And your friends will be engaged for a little while longer, so why don't you come into my humble home for a few minutes?"

Lady Jaye knew the old woman was harmless, but she suddenly had a bad feeling. She looked over her shoulder to see if she could see the other Joes. They were nowhere in sight. "I don't think so. I still have to look around."

Madame Fatima shook her head. "No one else here will talk to you today. I'll tell you what you need to know about the Dreadnoks, but I need to sit down. My knees don't hold up like they used to."

Lady Jaye hesitated. The woman claimed to have the information she needed, but she couldn't shake the feeling of dread. She then scolded herself with the thought that she could easily take on the old woman if needed. It was at that point that Lady Jaye realized she had never mentioned the Dreadnoks before Madame Fatima used their name. For a moment she wondered if the woman truly was psychic, and then she laughed the thought off.

Lady Jaye took a few steps toward the hut. Madame Fatima held open the beaded curtain that was the entrance into her lair. Lady Jaye walked in and waited for her eyes to adjust to the relative darkness.

"Please, sit down," Madame Fatima said as she gestured towards a folding chair in front of a small round table.

Lady Jaye did as instructed and watched as the old woman sank into a chair on the opposite side of the table. "You said you had information about the Dreadnoks?"

Madame Fatima smiled. "There's no need to rush. I have much to tell you." She picked up a small deck of cards and began to shuffle.

Lady Jaye was convinced she was in the process of being scammed. "I'm not interested in your…talents. I'm just looking for a good lead on…"

The old woman raised her hand. "You shouldn't let one bad experience from your childhood cloud your actions now." She then began to deal out the cards face up on the table.

Lady Jaye was momentarily stunned. "How did you know about that?"

Madame Fatima just smiled. She looked down at the cards and the smile quickly left her face.

"You're not about to tell me I'm going to die soon?" asked Lady Jaye. She meant for her question to be light-hearted but the feeling of dread returned with a vengeance.

"No. Not you. But someone close to you will," the old woman said in a whisper.

Instantly, Lady Jaye began to refute the prediction in her head. Several reasons why it was all a sham began to run through her mind. She tried to beat away the voice that reminded her that the woman knew things she shouldn't have known.

"Do you people ever predict happy events? Or is doom and gloom the standard operating procedure?" Lady Jaye asked.

The woman stood up and began to rifle through a stack of glass jars and boxes that were laid out on a rickety wooden shelf behind her head.

"Lady Jaye?" Flint's voice came from outside the tent.

"In here!" she cried out. Her fear instantly dissipated once she heard his voice. She turned and watched as he ducked into the tent.

He looked from the woman, to the table, to her and grinned. "I see you have some free time on your hands."

"Madame Fatima was getting ready to tell me about the Dreadnoks," Lady Jaye quickly explained.

"Yes. They were here about a week ago, but they are gone now. I don't know where," Madame Fatima hurriedly replied. She grabbed a small box off the shelf and turned around.

Lady Jaye shot her a look of annoyance. This wasn't exactly the hot tip she had been hoping for.

"That pretty much sums up the information we've gathered. If you're done having your fortune told, the others are waiting to leave," Flint said.

"Yes, we're done here," Lady Jaye said as she rose from her chair. Flint left the tent first, but the old woman stopped her before she reached the exit.

"He is close to you, no?" she asked.

Lady Jaye's heart began to pound in her chest but anger quickly replaced her fear. "This is a gimmick. You're about to tell me how for the low price of fifty dollars you can give me the information to prevent his death."

The old woman shook her head and placed her hand on Lady Jaye's arm. "I can't stop tragedy. I can only give you what you need to help deal with it."

Lady Jaye felt the fear rising again, and it made her angry. She pulled away from the woman's grasp. "Thank you for your time," she mumbled as she walked outside.

Once outside, and away from the gloominess of the hut, Lady Jaye relaxed. Flint grabbed her hand as they walked back to the jeep. He waved at Clutch who quickly sped out of the parking lot. The two then climbed into their VAMP. Once they were on the road, Flint asked about her session. "So did Madame What's Her Name tell you the name of your future husband, or the 2.5 kids you will have?"

Lady Jaye scoffed. "No, she wasn't nearly that forthcoming." Now that she was putting distance between her and the carnival, she began to mentally chide herself for her reaction to the prediction. Madame Fatima was nothing more than a much older version of Denise.

Feeling better about the situation, she made small talk with Flint until they returned to base. It wasn't until later than night, when she got undressed in her room that she noticed the gold locket that was in one of her pockets. She felt a shudder go through her body as she saw the initials 'M.F.' on the backside. She once again chided herself for being silly and put the locket in one of her small jewelry boxes.


	2. Day 1

Six Months later…

Lady Jaye woke up slowly. She smiled as she felt the warmth of the sunlight on her face. The days that she could sleep in way past dawn were few and far between. She heard a rustle of the sheets beside her and then she was pulled up against Flint's chest. Luckily, the days that she got to wake up with Flint by her side were not nearly as rare.

"What time is it?" he asked.

She opened one eye and tried to focus on the digital clock on the nightstand near her bed. "Eight something. Why? Do you have something going on this morning?"

"Nope. You?"

"Nope." Lady Jaye rolled over so she could face him. "Hmmm…So I wonder what we can do?" she teased.

His finger trailed down the side of her neck to her breast. "You know, if someone didn't fall asleep so fast last night, we would have accomplished that hours ago."

"Excuse me?" she asked "If I recall correctly, you were the one who was snoring first. Besides, are you trying to tell me that even if we did have sex last night, you wouldn't be raring to go again?"

Flint just grinned in response. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and got out of bed.

"Hey! Something I said?" she asked.

"Nope, nature calls. I want to be in top physical form before I give you the ravishing you deserve."

Lady Jaye couldn't help chuckling. Her laugh quickly turned into a groan when her phone rang. She debated for a brief moment not answering it, but she figured whoever was calling would know where to find her, and that would be a worse interruption. She answered and was relieved to learn there was no situation that required her immediate attendance.

Flint climbed back into bed with her as she finished up the conversation. "So you got everything you need? I'll come by in about an hour." She grinned when Flint shook his head. "Maybe a couple of hours. Oh, and Scarlett, don't call me back until I get there."

"Nothing serious I hope?" he asked as his hand went under the sheet to rub her leg.

She shook her head as she moaned. "Just a misplaced file."

Flint didn't answer as his head went underneath the sheet. Any thoughts of work were erased from Lady Jaye's mind as she focused on what his fingers and tongue were doing to her. However, it was short-lived as a few minutes later the intercom blared out.

"All Joes report for mandatory PT on the training field. The key words are 'all' and 'mandatory'," Beachhead ordered.

As Lady Jaye groaned, Flint came cursing out from under the sheets. "I'm going to kill him," he announced.

"Not if I get to him first," Lady Jaye replied and reluctantly got out of bed.

She was extremely irritated when she walked into the personnel office a couple of hours later. Scarlett was already seated at one of the desks. She smirked when she saw Lady Jaye's mood.

"I take it your leisurely morning didn't go well?" Scarlett asked.

"No. Thanks to Beachhead's maniacal need for physical fitness." Lady Jaye replied as she sat down at the chair at her desk.

"But that ended an hour ago. I thought you both had the day off?"

"Come on, you live and work here. Do you ever truly have a day off if you're just hanging around the base? Once PT was over, Duke needed to talk to Flint and then Mainframe started bitching about the new computer system. Once Clutch came by waving requisition forms, I knew his day was shot. So I decided to come by here, and keep you company. Aren't you thrilled?"

"You have no idea," Scarlett said as she rolled her eyes. Her face then brightened. "I do have a piece of good news – Roadblock is making one of his famous lunches today."

Lady Jaye gasped, "Really? Which one?"

"The exact menu has been kept a secret, but I heard rumors of steak."

"You mean like real steak? Not the shoe leather they normally serve?"

"That's what I hear. Since it's quiet in here, we could take a walk over and grab a peek."

"I'll race you," Lady Jaye said with a smile as she ran for the door.

Lady Jaye had to laugh when she saw the number of Joe casually milling around the cafeteria. Word must have gotten out about Roadblock's pitch hitting, because on a normal day there were never so many people waiting for the lunch bell. Lady Jaye sniffed the air hoping for a clue as to what was going to be served.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Lady Jaye," Ripcord said as he turned from the three other Joes he was talking to. "Word just came down that lunch was cancelled."

"What? Why?" Lady Jaye and Scarlett asked in unison.

"Something about the shipment of beef not coming in. Roadblock's supposedly trying to work a miracle with the food in there, but like I said, don't expect too much."

A few minutes later, Ripcord's statement was confirmed. Roadblock walked out into the cafeteria announcing to a chorus of boos that the original lunch, sliders, was back on. He promised that he would try again the next day.

"So, Joe's Diner anyone?" Ripcord asked once Roadblock finished speaking.

"I'm going to pass," Lady Jaye said. "I want to see if I can talk Flint into escaping for an hour or so."

Lady Jaye was successful and forty-five minutes later the two were walking hand in hand out of the base. "So where do you want to…" Flint began but then trailed off as he stared at a point above her head.

"Flint, what's wrong?" she asked as she turned around. Off in the distance, she could see a formation of what looked like a flock of birds. "Is that…?" she started to ask but trailed off as Flint pulled out his cell phone and hurriedly dialed a set of numbers.

"Breaker, do you have any contacts on the radar?" Flint asked, using the phone as a walkie-talkie so Lady Jaye could hear the reply.

"That's a negative, Flint, the screen is quiet…wait a minute. Shit! We've got multiple bogies coming in from the east-southeast!"

Moments later the general alarm rang out. "Skystrikers!" Flint ordered and the two took off running.

Lady Jaye reached her plane first and was in the air in a matter of moments. Ace and three others were already in flight, and she joined the impromptu air group. Ace barked out a set of orders that she followed.

She was never nervous in situations like this. Her skills as a pilot took over, and her only concern was keeping the approaching Rattlers from attacking Headquarters. She heard Flint's voice as he echoed Ace's order to his air group. Lady Jaye's headset was filled with a controlled chaos as the pilots began to voice their actions.

She shot down her first Rattler and smiled. She knew it wasn't right to take pleasure in the death of another person, but the bastards were on her home turf. She knew they would never hesitate celebrating in hers or any other Joes' death.

Outside the window to her right, she could see a Rattler was chasing one of the Skystrikers. She quickly banked and took up the pursuit. As she raced to help she heard Flint's voice in her headset, "A little help here, guys."

Her heart began pounding as she replied, "Don't worry baby, I'm coming." She may never be afraid for her own safety, but there had been times she'd been scared for him.

The Rattler was in her sight, and she fired off two of her missiles. The first one crippled him, and the second one was a kill. But in the seconds before it exploded, the Rattler was able to shoot off a single missile. "Flint, you've got an incoming!"

"I know," he said and something in his voice made her heart pound even harder. The scene unfolded in slow motion. She wondered why he wasn't performing any evasive maneuvers before she realized that his plane must have been damaged in the firefight. The whole time she had her own plane racing to the scene but she knew intuitively there was nothing else she could do.

"Oh God, Flint," she whispered moments before his plane exploded. She let out an anguished cry and desperately searched for a parachute that she knew wasn't there.

"Lady Jaye," Ace said calmly through her headset. "You have to pull yourself together. We still have Rattlers around."

Lady Jaye wanted to tell him to lay off but her training kicked in. She blinked her vision clear and turned the plane around to rejoin the fight.

The next few minutes were a blur. She didn't know if the Skystrikers took down all of the attacking Rattlers, or if some had retreated. Either way, the battle ended, and she landed her plane. By the time her wheels touched down she had gone totally numb.

She climbed out of the Skystriker, but once on the ground her knees buckled under her. Shipwreck was immediately by her side. "Lady Jaye, I'm so sorry," he said as he put his arm around her back and tried to help her up off the ground.

Seeing Shipwreck in a serious mood threatened to unhinge her. "I didn't see a chute," she mumbled.

Shipwreck looked up as Ace came running over. Lady Jaye repeated her statement. "I didn't see his chute. Ace, was there a chute?"

Ace got a stricken look on his face as he shook his head. Lady Jaye dropped her head in her hands as she collapsed back onto the ground. She heard a couple of other people approach. She recognized Scarlett's voice as she asked what had happened. She then heard Ace quietly explain that Flint had been killed.

"Alison, honey let me take you back to your room," Scarlett said softly after she kneeled down next to her.

At the mention of her room, the memories of the morning hit her. It had been only a few hours ago that the two of them had been lying in bed together. The tears started anew as she realized that they never got a chance to resume their lovemaking and now never would. She suddenly stood up. "Not my room, I can't go there," she sputtered.

"Okay," Scarlett replied calmly. "How about my room, or Cover Girl's?"

Lady Jaye had a flash of irritability and had to bite her tongue to keep from yelling at Scarlett. "I don't care. I want to be alone. Just not in my room."

Scarlett nodded and put her hand on her back as she led her away from the airfield. As Lady Jaye passed another Skystriker she wondered where the wreckage of Flint's plane had landed. She then wondered how intact the plane, and therefore his body was. She had a brief mental image of his body parts strewn around and she had to bite her lip again to keep from crying out.

They passed a number of Joes. Most had apparently heard the grim news because a few stopped to express condolences. Scarlett quietly thanked each one and quickly explained she was taking Lady Jaye to a quieter place. Each time Lady Jaye felt the need to hit her increase. She knew deep down that Scarlett wasn't doing anything purposely to annoy her, but the idea of releasing some of her hurt was very tempting.

After what seemed like an eternity, they reached Scarlett's room. Scarlett led her in, sat her down on the couch, and asked if she needed anything. Lady Jaye brought her hand to her head and rubbed at her temple.

"No, Shana. Thanks for all this, but I need some time."

"I know. You don't have to explain. I know what you're going through," Scarlett said as she leaned over and hugged her.

Lady Jaye pushed her away. "Do you really? Or is that just one of the standard condolence remarks?"

Scarlett eyes flashed with pain. "I do know," she said quietly and then patted Lady Jaye's thigh. "I know you're hurting now, and some time alone is probably for the best. Call me if you need anything." Scarlett stood up, wiped at the tears on her cheeks and walked out the door.

Once she was gone, Lady Jaye just sat on the couch staring straight ahead. She briefly wondered about Scarlett's cryptic message, but she quickly dismissed it. She didn't honestly care at the moment about anyone else's pain but her own. She wondered if she would feel better after a good cry, or if that would just open the dam. She replayed the aerial battle in her head. If she had just come to Flint's aid sooner, she could have taken down the Rattler before it had a chance to fire its missile. Or if she had only killed him with her first shot. There were dozens of 'what ifs' going through her mind.

She wasn't sure if she dozed off, or if her mind just shut down, because some time later there was a knock on the door. She thought it had only been a few minutes, but she was surprised as she looked at the clock that she had been in Scarlett's room over an hour. Duke entered the room and walked over to give her a hug. He began to say all the appropriate unexpected death sayings, but Lady Jaye tuned him out. When he stood up to leave, she thanked him for coming by. Once he left, several other Joes came in to express their condolences and offer their support. The outpouring of love from her teammates touched Lady Jaye. She wished she could properly thank them, but she was so emotionally drained she couldn't manage more than a mumbled thank-you.

Scarlett came by with a plate of food from the cafeteria, but Lady Jaye's stomach turned at the sight. She decided she was tired of sitting around uselessly on the couch, and told Scarlett she needed to go for a walk. Scarlett offered to come, but Lady Jaye again asked for alone time.

She wandered aimlessly around the base. It seemed like there wasn't a part of the base that didn't have a memory of Flint attached to it. She decided to walk out to an area she knew was going to be particularly painful. It was a secluded spot outside of their training ground. It was in a dark corner of the base with enough trees and bushes around to make it perfect for a late night rendezvous. They had utilized it on a number of occasions.

Once she reached the spot, she sat down and began to absent-mindedly pick at the grass. She purposely came out here, hoping that the memories would finally break through the numbness. She wasn't looking forward to the grief she was sure to experience, but it had to be better than the fog she had been in.

She sighed and lay down in the grass. The ground was warm and dry and soon she was fast asleep.


	3. Day 2

Lady Jaye woke with a start in her own bed. Her mind tried desperately to remember when she had come back to her room. One of her teammates must have found her outside and brought her back to her own bed. Out of habit, she glanced at the clock. It was a few minutes past eight.

"What time is it?" a voice asked.

Lady Jaye recoiled. The voice sounded so much like Flint, but she couldn't believe it was possible. She further recoiled when the man in question sat up in her bed. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Lady Jaye jumped out of the bed. "You died," she stammered.

"Hon, I think you might have had a bad dream," he said calmly.

His tone of voice reminded her of Scarlett's from the previous day, which only furthered her confusion. "No. It wasn't a dream, it was too real."

Flint looked down and ran his hand down his body. "I'm pretty sure I'm not dead, Al."

Lady Jaye just stared at him, her mouth agape. Her mind tried desperately to process the information. She was sure that her memories from the previous day were not from a dream, but the proof contradicting that was sitting on her bed. Her mind then offered another explanation. She reached her hand out slowly towards Flint. She expected her hand to pass right through him, but when it landed on solid flesh she let out a laugh and jumped into his arms.

"Oh thank God, it was just a dream"

He kissed her and then pulled away. "Be right back. Nature calls."

A shiver went through Lady Jaye as she felt a strong sense of déjà vu. The feeling got worse when her phone rang a few seconds later. She slowly picked up her phone and answered it.

"Jaye, it's Scarlett. I hate to bother you but I've torn through this office looking for the Alcatraz mission report."

The blood began to pound in Lady Jaye's head. She truly was reliving the previous day. Either she had a complex premonition the night before, or somehow the day had reset and started over.

She didn't hear Flint come out of the bathroom, and jumped when he put his hand on her shoulder. "Al, what's the matter? You're as pale as a ghost."

She looked down at the phone where she could hear Scarlett calling her name. "I knew Scarlett was going to call me," she said dumbly.

"Okay, that's not surprising. I would bet that Duke will try to get a hold of me sometime today."

"No!" she exclaimed with a note of hysteria in her voice. "I knew the exact question she would ask me. This morning started out exactly like yesterday morning."

"Alison, it hasn't," Flint explained. He grabbed her hands and led her to the bed where he helped her sit. "Yesterday morning you were on watch and I had spent the night in my room."

She shook her head. "No - not that morning, the other this morning."

Flint slowly blew out a deep breath. "Maybe you need to talk to Doc."

"I don't need…" she began but was interrupted by Beachhead's PT order. She waved her hand in the direction of the intercom. "See? That happened before too!"

Flint stood up. "I don't know what's going on, but maybe some fresh air is what you need. If you still feel…delusional afterwards, I'm taking you to Doc."

Lady Jaye finished PT and walked back to her room. She didn't bother trying to find Flint after the workout; she knew he was going to be sidetracked. Besides, she was afraid that he would make good on his promise to take her to the infirmary.

Once in her room, she undressed and headed for the bathroom. As she showered she tried again to sort through the events of the day. Flint had used the word delusional, and she was afraid that he might be right. It couldn't be possible that she was actually reliving the same day.

What scared her was if she really was reliving the same day that would mean Flint would be dead in less than four hours. She made a vow that since she now knew what was coming she would do all she could to prevent it.

The rest of the morning continued to play out in the same way as she expected. She went by the personnel office where Scarlett told her about Roadblock's lunch. They walked to the cafeteria where they met up with Ripcord and learned of the cancellation. Ripcord once again offered up Joe's Diner as an alternate, and Lady Jaye again turned him down.

Once Ripcord and the others left, she quickly ran to Flint's office. He was sitting at his desk, frowning at a sheet of paper. She walked up to him, took the paper out of his hand and said, "A bunch of guys are going to Joe's. Do you want to go?"

"Sure. I just need to take care of this first," he replied as he tried to grab the paper from her.

She took a couple of steps back. "This could wait. Come on, let's go now. They're all leaving."

"Maybe you should go, and I'll meet up with you when I'm done," he said.

"No, I'm not leaving without you. Dammit, Flint, I just…" _want to save your life_ she thought. Instead she continued, "I just want to spend some time with you. This morning got off to a bad start, and all I want is some time off base."

He nodded and smiled. "You're right. Time alone has been hard to come by. Let me make this one phone call and I promise we'll get out of here."

Lady Jaye resigned herself to the fact that she wasn't going to change his mind. She sat down on one of the chairs and waited. She knew that the phone call was going to go longer than Flint expected. However, she hoped that there would still be time to leave the base before the Rattlers came.

As time went on, she became more agitated as she kept looking at her watch. Flint would glance up at her every so often and give her a concerned look. When he finally finished, he stood up and announced, "Okay, let's go."

They walked outside hand in hand. Lady Jaye was quiet. She knew deep in her heart that she was too late. They arrived at almost the identical spot to the one they were in the previous day when Flint once again spotted the Rattlers. He picked up his phone, and called Breaker. Once he got confirmation on the Rattlers he ordered them to their Skystrikers.

"No, Flint wait," Lady Jaye said desperately as she grabbed his arm. "I know you must think I have gone absolutely crazy, but you have to believe me. You can't go up in your Skystriker."

"Alison," Flint said soberly. "I know you're afraid something is going to happen…"

"I'm not afraid it might happen, I know it will! I watched you die after your Skystriker was attacked!"

Flint quickly turned his head towards the airstrip and then turned back to her. "Al, this is our job. Getting killed in battle is a very real risk. We take that chance every time we go into battle with Cobra. I still don't believe you're psychic, but even if you are, I have to go up there and help out our teammates. I'm sorry, but I can't let them down."

He raced away and she debated trying one last time to stop him. She knew it was useless and decided that if she couldn't stop him, she could at least try to protect him. She ran to her Skystriker and brought it into the air.

Instead of joining Ace's group, she stayed behind to be Flint's wingman. She shot down one Rattler, but took no joy in it this time. She wondered if he had a loved one who would be mourning his death.

She kept Flint's plane in her sights, and after he fired off one of his missiles, she noticed a puff of smoke from the plane's undercarriage. "Flint, you've got smoke below you," she reported.

"Yeah, my controls suddenly got sluggish," he replied.

Her heart began to pound. She saw a Rattler heading right towards him, but she was able to take it down before he got any missiles fired. She was pretty sure it was the same Rattler that fired off the shot that killed Flint the previous day, and for a moment she thought this day was finally going to turn out different.

However, the trouble with Flint's plane became more apparent. He suddenly plummeted a few hundred feet. "Flint!" she cried out.

"I'm trying!" he yelled out. His plane stabilized for a few seconds before it began to plummet again.

She let out an anguished scream as she watched his plane go down. She closed her eyes a second before the explosion.

"Lady Jaye," Ace said calmly through her headset. "You have to pull yourself together. We still…"

"Yeah, I know," Lady Jaye said through tears. "There are still Rattlers around."

She rejoined the fight. This time she saw that after a couple more kills, the remaining half dozen Rattlers retreated. She wanted to avenge Flint's death by going after them, and began to give them chase.

"Lady Jaye, don't do anything stupid. Come back down," Ace ordered.

She ignored him until she heard Duke's voice give the same order. She reluctantly turned back around and landed her Skystriker. Once down on the ground, she quickly walked away. She heard Ace call her name, but she held up her hand and waved him off. She passed by a grief-stricken Scarlett who also called her name, but she ignored her as well.

She calmly walked out to her car, got in and drove off the base.


	4. Day 3

She woke up the next morning in her own bed and the sun shining on her face. She instantly knew the same day had begun again. After she had left the base the night before, she had driven a few hundred miles until she had come to some small random town. She had found a liquor store, bought a bottle of tequila and checked into the first motel she had found. She had immediately opened the bottle and drank it until she passed out.

Now she was magically back in her room on base, dressed in her nightclothes, and had no hint of a hangover. Plus her now twice-dead lover was in the process of waking up beside her.

"What…?" he began but she cut him off.

"Eight-oh-three," she answered. "You better hit the bathroom now, because I need to talk to you about something."

He blinked a few times and opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. He got out of bed, went into the bathroom and returned a few moments later.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"Hang on one minute," she said as she reached for the phone. "Scarlett's about to call me to ask where the Alcatraz file is."

Almost immediately after she finished talking, her phone rang. She answered the phone. "Hey, Scarlett, it's misfiled. It's in with the Destro reports."

She hung up the phone and faced Flint who was openly gaping at her. "We only have about five minutes before Beachhead is going to order us to PT. I'm about to tell you a fantastic story that you're probably not going to believe.

"It has been Saturday the fourth three times for me now. I've had this day end twice only to wake up at the exact same time, in this bed with you by my side. The day starts off with you needing to pee, Scarlett unable to find a file, and Beachhead ordering mandatory PT. The day only gets worse from there."

Flint continued to look flabbergasted. He shook his head and then said simply, "What?"

"I don't know how this is happening, but I swear on everything sacred, that I am telling you the truth." Lady Jaye looked at the clock and then pointed to the intercom. "All Joes report for mandatory PT on the training field. The key words are 'all' and 'mandatory'" she mimicked in Beachhead's voice.

Flint's mouth opened wider a few seconds later when Beachhead's voice came over the intercom saying the exact words Lady Jaye had predicted. He slowly turned to her. "I think we need to see Hawk."

"How is this even possible?" Hawk asked a short time later after Lady Jaye finished telling her story.

"Could it be some sort of Cobra plot?" Duke asked.

"It wouldn't be the first time they messed with our heads," Flint added.

"But why only me?" Lady Jaye asked.

"Are you sure it's only you that is affected?" Duke asked.

"I believe it is. No one else that I've come in contact with the last two…" she paused as she tried to think of the appropriate word, "iterations seemed to be suffering from the same thing."

She brought her hand up to her head and rubbed. "I appreciate that you guys believe my story and aren't immediately calling for a psych evaluation."

"Trust me, Lady Jaye, that option hasn't been taken off the table," Hawk said gravely.

"Hawk, I can vouch for her," Flint said as he rubbed her back. "She honestly knew her phone was going to ring before it did, and she said verbatim what Beachhead was going to announce over the intercom."

She nodded. "Those are not my only tricks. Mainframe is going to inform you that the wrong computers were delivered. Clutch is still waiting on the parts he ordered, and Roadblock's shipment of beef was delayed. It's apparently a really bad day for UPS."

The three men chuckled, but Lady Jaye gave Flint a sad smile. She swallowed hard. "But that's not the worst of it. At little after one this afternoon, Cobra is going to stage an aerial attack. We're going to win the battle but…" she swallowed hard again. "Flint is going to be killed."

Flint looked visibly shaken. Duke exchanged a look with Hawk and then turned towards Lady Jaye. "Maybe this can be prevented. If we know Cobra's coming, we can be prepared for them."

"I tried to stop it last time, but it didn't matter. His plane had mechanical difficulties and…" she trailed off.

Hawk picked up the phone on his desk and dialed an extension. "Clutch, I want a complete inspection of Flint's Skystriker. His plane is grounded until you're done. What's that?" he paused and frowned. "Alright, I'll look into it."

He hung up the phone. "Clutch said his parts haven't arrived yet." He stood up from his desk. "Our first priority is the imminent Cobra attack. Duke, get all the pilots ready to go. Don't tell them about our special intelligence, but run a few drills so we know they are at the top of their game."

Hawk turned towards Flint and Lady Jaye. "For obvious reasons, I want you two to sit this one out. Brainstorm and try to figure out what the hell is happening here." He reached for the phone handset on his desk. "It seems that I have a few calls to make."

Duke, Flint and Lady Jaye left Hawk's office and walked out into the hallway. Once they reached the corridor that led to the airfield, Duke stopped. He turned to face Flint. "Dash, buddy…" he grimaced as he tried to figure out what to say next.

"Duke, don't even tell me you're trying to think up an appropriate goodbye speech," Flint said with a smirk.

"You're an ass," Duke replied and shook his head. "But you are a good friend." He pulled Flint into a hug and patted his back.

Lady Jaye got choked up and had to turn away. She brought her hand over her mouth and willed her emotions to stay in check.

"Al, it's going to be okay," Flint said softly as he put his hands on her shoulders.

"I want to believe that," she said. She took a deep breath and wiped at the dampness in her eyes. "I'm sorry I had to tell you."

Flint grabbed her hand and led her to one of the doors. He knocked, and when there was no response, he opened the door and the two went in. They were in one of the computer rooms. There were several of these generic offices throughout Headquarters for use by any of the Joes without their own personal office space.

He sat down at the edge of the largest desk and pulled her close. He wrapped his arms around her back and leaned it to kiss her. Lady Jaye lost herself in the moment. She hadn't had a chance to kiss him since the morning it all started. She wanted to savor every sensation. The feel of his lips against hers, the roughness of his chin irritating her own, his hands rubbing her back.

When he pulled away she groaned. "Don't stop," she pleaded.

He looked over her shoulder. "In that case, we're going to need to find a room with a lock." He ran his hand down her face. "Did you really watch me die twice?" he asked.

She nodded and the images came flooding back. "It was awful."

"I bet it was. This time will be different. We're all working together to prevent it." He leaned in again to kiss her but they were interrupted by the door being thrown open.

"Oh! I'm sorry," an embarrassed Dial-Tone said.

"Don't worry about it, we need to get to work anyway," Flint said.

Lady Jaye walked over to one of the computer terminals and stared at it blankly. "Any ideas as to where to start looking?" she asked Flint.

"How about all the intel we have on some of Cobra's more unusual weapons?" he suggested. He then turned to Dial-Tone who had sat down at one of the other computer stations. "Hey, DT, why are you in here? I thought you computer geeks had a state of the art lab?"

"We do. Unfortunately, it's in the process of being overhauled. Mainframe and I spent all night backing up and shutting down all the systems because the new units were going to be delivered this morning. Well, they came and can you believe they sent us Macs? I thought Mainframe was going to have an aneurism when he opened the first box."

Lady Jaye chuckled. As she began to scan through the first of many documents, she tuned Dial-Tone out as he continued his story. She knew she was looking for a needle in a haystack, but she wasn't even sure she was at the right farm. At least she felt like she was doing something.

An hour later she was almost cross-eyed and no closer to her answers. Dial-Tone had left a half hour earlier, and Flint had commandeered his computer. When she walked over to see what he was doing she chastised him for what was on his screen. "Spider solitaire? That's productive."

Before he could answer, his phone rang. He answered it and was silent for a few moments before telling the caller he would be right there. "That was Clutch. He wants me to take a look at my plane."

They left the room and headed for the Skystriker hangars. On the way outside they passed Ripcord and Scarlett. "Hey guys!" Ripcord said. "Roadblock's lunch got canceled so we're heading out to Joe's. Do you want to come?"

"Maybe in a little bit," Flint answered. "I've got to look at something first."

As they walked away, Lady Jaye wondered if leaving the base was the trick to changing the outcome of the day. "Flint, I think we should go with them."

"Okay," he answered. "Let's just see what Clutch has to tell us and then we'll go."

They walked into the hangar and Clutch immediately ran up to them. "Flint you are one lucky son of a bitch. If you took this plane up it would have been a disaster." Clutch then brought him over to examine the Skystriker.

Lady Jaye watched from a distance. She was beginning to feel the sense of dread again. She looked at her watch and gasped when she saw it was already after one O'clock. A short time later, the general base alarm sounded and the hangar went into overdrive. Lady Jaye took a few steps back to stand against the wall, and out of everyone's way. She hated that a battle was happening and she was going to stand idly by.

Flint walked over towards her. "I don't like this. I don't want to just stand here and watch everyone else work."

"I know. I was just thinking…" she began but an explosion cut her off. A flash of light blinded her. She felt Flint push her down to the ground and cover her with his body. A second smaller explosion rang out, and then all was quiet.

She tried to sit up, but Flint was dead weight on top of her. She put her hand on his shoulder and shook him. "Flint? Dash? Are you okay?" she intuitively knew the answer to the question. Her fears were confirmed when she ran her hand down the back of his head and felt that it was wet with his blood.

A couple of hours later she sat alone on the roof of Headquarters. From her vantage point she could see the smoking ruins of the hangar. A Rattler had crash landed into the building, and ignited one of the fuel lines. Several of the Joes had been injured, but Flint had been the only one killed.

The whole series of events was incomprehensible. Not only was she forced to relive the day, but also it seemed as if Flint was destined to die each and every time.

"Lady Jaye," Duke said quietly from behind her.

She turned and gave him a sad smile. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm okay. I'm more worried about you, though."

"I'm trying to make sense of it. I thought for sure keeping him out of that plane would prevent his death." She sighed. "I just realized that not once during these days have I told him I love him. I need to remember that for tomorrow."

"He knew," Duke replied. "We had a conversation about it once. He told me that there were times he wondered what you saw in him."

Lady Jaye smiled and looked at the ground. "Believe me, I asked myself that question several times." The tears began anew. Duke put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

"So do you think the day will start over again?" he asked once her crying was reduced to a whimper.

"I don't see why it wouldn't. And I'm at the point now that I'm hoping it does. I feel like if I can just get the day right, stop his death from happening, that everything will be okay."

"Did you have any luck with your research earlier?" Duke asked.

She shook her head. "No. But the problem is what to look for. It's not like there's a lot of reputable sources on the internet that deal with a repeating day."

"What about the Cobra angle?"

"If it is Cobra's doing, the best theory I have is that this is all a fantasy. Either I'm stuck in one of their nightmare devices, or I'm a prisoner living in one of their synthoid worlds. However, I have yet to come into contact with any member of Cobra except for the nameless Cobra troopers in the Rattlers. If they're trying to get any information out of me, they are taking their time doing it."

She stood up and stretched. "Thanks for the company, Duke. I'm going to take a walk and think."

As she walked around the headquarters' grounds she debated the possibility of being trapped in a simulated world. The more she thought about it, the more feasible it became. When she went to bed that night, she decided that if she was stuck in a simulation, she was going to get as much enjoyment out of it as possible.


	5. Day 4

The next morning when she woke up she instantly rolled over and grinned at her bedmate. "Get up," she ordered. "We're getting off the base."

"Okay," Flint said simply and got out of bed. "Let me just run back to my room and get a change of clothes."

Lady Jaye shook her head. "Nope. Just put on what you've got and let's get out of here."

"Somebody's in a hurry this morning," he grinned.

She walked over to him and kissed him long and hard. "It's only because I know if we don't go now, people are going to be clamoring for our attention. It's our day off and I intend to make sure that it stays that way."

Her cell phone rang. She walked over to it and shut it off. She then walked back to Flint, grabbed his hand and led him out of her room.

They had just made it to the parking lot when Beachhead's announcement came over the loudspeaker. Flint hesitated for a moment and looked back at the base. "Don't even think about it," she said. "We're already gone." Flint looked back one more time and Lady Jaye was afraid that his sense of duty would win out. However, he turned back around and continued walking to her car.

When they had driven off the base he asked her, "Do you have a particular destination in mind?"

"I do," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

Three hours later they were lying in the luxurious queen bed in the Bantry Cottage of the Victorian Lace Inn. It had cost Lady Jaye a small fortune to procure the room, but she figured the price tag didn't matter. She also had to bribe the owner to let them check in early. Lady Jaye figured she didn't have the luxury to wait until 3 O'clock.

Flint had dozed off, and she was content at the moment to just watch him sleep. Last night after talking with Duke, she had been convinced that this was a Cobra simulation, and she could play along until they tipped their hand. Now, she wasn't as sure. If this was a simulation, it was a damn good one. Flint seemed so real. When they made love a short time ago, she tried to just focus on the act, and she had succeeded for a while. But now that it was over, and he lay sleeping next to her she doubted how long her sanity could hold out.

In theory, living a day where there were no long-term consequences was exciting. She could wake up in the morning and do whatever she wanted. However, not having Flint with her at the end of the day was emotionally killing her.

She kept telling herself that it wasn't really happening. But it didn't matter. She loved him so much and seeing him die day after day was taking a toll on her psyche.

Flint began to stir. He stretched, took a deep breath and opened his eyes with a smile. His smile quickly left his face as he sat up. "Al, what's wrong?" he asked with a note of concern.

She shook her head and smiled. "It's nothing. I'm just reminiscing. These are good tears," she lied. She then remembered her promise from the day before. "I love you, Dash."

"Love you too," he said and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "Not to ruin the moment, but I'm starving. You want to check out some of the local cuisine?"

She nodded and after redressing, the two left. Lady Jaye wasn't surprised when an hour later, Flint lay dead on the ground of the Wharfside, a victim in a robbery shootout gone wrong.

That afternoon she drove back to Headquarters, only because she didn't know where else to go. Moments after she exited her car, she was met by an agitated Beachhead.

"Good afternoon, Lady Jaye. I hope you enjoyed your time off today," he said sarcastically.

She mumbled a string of obscenities as she tried to push past him. However Beachhead reached out, grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Oh no, you're not getting off that easily. I know for a fact that you were on base this morning and purposely blew off my mandatory PT. I have you and Flint on the security camera leaving shortly after my announcement." Beachhead turned his head towards the parking area and then back at her. "Where is your boyfriend, anyway?" he asked.

"I killed him," she answered in a deadpan tone.

"Excuse me?" he said. "Are you purposely trying to get your ass thrown in detention?"

She shrugged. "Honestly, Beachhead, I really don't give a shit where I spend the rest of the day." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a card. "If you need to find Flint, here's the number to the morgue where his body is at."

"Is this a joke?" Beachhead asked.

"God, I wish it was, but it's not." Lady Jaye pulled her arm out of Beachhead's grasp. "Now if you'll excuse me…" she began but Beachhead interrupted her.

"Not so fast. What do you mean you killed him? Did you have a fight?"

Lady Jaye began to laugh. She knew she must look like she was on the verge of hysterics, which could very well be the case. "Yeah. That's what happened," she answered sarcastically but then shook her head. "I didn't pull the trigger, but it's definitely my fault he's dead."

"What happened? Do you want to talk about it?" Beachhead asked with an amount of kindness Lady Jaye never expected to hear from the usually tough-as-nails drill instructor.

"I really don't. And don't worry about me, Wayne. It's not the first time I've had to deal with his death."

Beachhead stared blankly at her, his mouth partly agape. She tried to walk away a third time, but once again he stopped her. "Hang on there, you're coming with me. I'm not quite sure who you need to see, but you definitely need professional help."

Lady Jaye let herself be led into Headquarters. Beachhead stopped for a moment, apparently trying to decide his next move. He then continued on, and took her into the conference room. After making sure she was settled in one of the chairs, he exited the room and Lady Jaye heard the door lock behind him.

"Well, this should get interesting," she said to the empty room. She knew that if she had just played along with Beachhead, she could have continued her day without much of the scrutiny that was sure to come. But as she had told him, she really didn't care anymore. Her life had become almost a game, and now she was playing with all of the different possibilities. She leaned back in her chair and waited to see who would be the first one in to talk to her.

She got her answer ten minutes later when Scarlett and Duke walked in together. They both wore matching grim looks, which Lady Jaye found comical. She didn't even try to hold back her grin. "Man, you two really need to work on your poker face," she said.

Scarlett and Duke exchanged a look, and then Scarlett went to Lady Jaye's side. "Alison, are you okay? We called the number you gave Beachhead, and the duty officer told us what happened earlier this afternoon. It must have been horrible."

Lady Jaye debated how to answer Scarlett's question. She could just play along, and act the part of the grieving girlfriend, or she could continue with her on the brink of lunacy charade. Or she could try telling some version of the truth.

She chose the last option. "Duke, do you mind if I talk to Scarlett alone?"

Duke hesitated for a moment. He looked towards Scarlett for guidance, and she nodded. He paused a moment longer and then nodded as well. He walked towards the two women, and rubbed his hand on Scarlett's back. He then squeezed Lady Jaye's shoulder as he said, "Okay, I'll be right outside if you need me."

Lady Jaye waited until the door closed behind him before she spoke. "Scarlett, I am okay. I saw Flint's death coming, so I'm really fine with it."

"Oh, hon," Scarlett said as she put her arm around Lady Jaye. "You don't have to put up a brave front for us. Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"I really don't. I'm so sick of dealing with it already."

Scarlett held her gaze for a few moments before turning towards the two-way mirror. Lady Jaye knew she was debating calling Duke back into the room. Scarlett turned back around and grabbed Lady Jaye's hand. "I'm about to tell you something no one else knows.

"Before I joined the Joes, I was part of a three-man team that was auditioning for the Joes. One of the guys, David, and I had become close. I actually became close to both of them, but David and I started a more intimate relationship. We kept it a secret, even from the third member, Mark. I insisted on the secrecy. Not only was it dangerous for the mission we were about to be sent on, but also I knew it would hurt my chances to join the Joe team.

"That mission went very bad. David and Mark were killed, and I barely escaped with my life. When it was over, Hawk pulled me aside and expressed his condolences on the loss of my teammates. I never told him or anyone else how close I was to either one of them.

"Privately, I grieved silently for months, while publicly I went on with my life. In a way it was easy to keep up the charade; Hawk had officially offered me a spot on the Joe team, and I had that to distract me. However, I was a wreck inside. Getting over a death of someone you love is the hardest thing you could possibly deal with in life. Bottling up all the emotions inside just makes it that much harder."

Lady Jaye stared at her friend. She had no idea that Scarlett had gone through such a tragic ordeal. She then realized what Scarlett had wanted to tell her the first afternoon Flint died. "Scarlett, I'm so sorry. I wish I knew about it before."

"It's okay, it was a long time ago, and I did eventually work through the pain. Which is another piece of advice. As much as it hurts now, it will get better."

_Not if I'm forced to relive it day after day,_ Lady Jaye thought. She sighed. "I would love to talk about what I'm feeling now, but this really is out of your league."

"Try me. Like I said, I do understand."

Lady Jaye abruptly pushed her chair back and stood from the table. Her nerves were completely frayed. "No, you really don't. You don't even have the first clue as to what I've gone through these last few days."

"Days? Were you and Flint having problems before today?" Scarlett asked.

Lady Jaye scoffed. "Forget I said anything. Am I being held in here? Can I go?"

Scarlett stood up as well. "Of course you're free to go. But, Alison, I want you to know that you don't have to suffer through this alone. We all care about you, and want to help you out in anyway we can."

"I appreciate the offer, Scarlett, I really do. However, this is something I have to deal with on my own." Lady Jaye then headed towards the door and left the interrogation room.


	6. Day 5

The next morning Lady Jaye woke up, and lay silently in bed. She heard Flint get out of bed, but she didn't give any signs that she was awake as well. She continued lost in her thoughts until her cell phone rang. She got up and quietly turned it off. She sat at the edge of the bed, until Flint walked out of the bathroom.

"Did I hear a phone ring?" he asked.

"Yeah, mine did. But no big deal," she answered quietly.

"Good. I was afraid someone was going to ruin our day off," he answered as he crawled on the bed next to her. He then put his hands on her shoulders and nestled his face into her neck.

Lady Jaye wiggled out from under his grasp and stood up. He looked up at her, a hurt look on his face. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"No…I just…I can't do this right now," she answered. Flint continued to look hurt, so she tried to explain. "I just don't want to start something when we'll probably get interrupted. You know someone is going to need our attention," she answered. Shortly after she finished talking, Beachhead's announcement rang out. "You see?" she added.

Flint grinned. "That was a neat little trick. Did Beach give you advanced warning?" he asked.

"In a way he did," she answered honestly. "Go on ahead, I'll catch up."

"Are you sure?" Flint asked.

"Yeah, I'm right behind you. I just need my turn," she answered as she cocked a thumb in the direction of the bathroom.

Flint grinned. "I understand." He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll see you in a little bit."

Lady Jaye smiled and watched him walk out of the room. She then sat down on her bed and debated how to spend her day. She had already decided that she was going to leave Flint behind. While the idea of another perfect morning with him was tempting, she couldn't bear to find out the new way he would be killed in her presence. She also held on to the slim hope that if maybe she just didn't interfere in his life today, he would be fine.

With that thought, she rose from the bed and got dressed. She planned to just get in her car and see where the day took her.

Early that afternoon, inside a BBQ joint, as Lady Jaye was working through a second helping of baby back ribs, she received the phone call she had been hoping to avoid. A grief-stricken Scarlett called to at first inquire about her whereabouts, and then to inform her that Flint had been killed. Lady Jaye gave what she hoped was an appropriate response, and then went back to her food.

When the waitress returned, Lady Jaye ordered a pitcher of beer. "Expecting some friends?" the waitress asked cheerily.

"Nope," Lady Jaye answered. "I just need to get really drunk."

The waitress hesitated a moment, but then shrugged and walked towards the bar. Lady Jaye licked her fingers clean and waited for her beer to arrive.

When she was done eating and drinking, she stumbled out of the restaurant. She stood on the street and debated what to do next. She was in a small seaside town, a couple of blocks away from the ocean. She knew she wanted to stroll the boardwalk, but she had to make a purchase first.

She scanned both sides of the street until she saw a mini mart. She was pleased to see that it truly was a convenience store. She headed towards one of the refrigeration units, and chose a big bottle of lite beer. She then laughed at herself, returned the bottle to the shelf and grabbed the full-flavor version. She went to the counter to pay.

"I'd like a pack of cigarettes as well," she said. "No, wait, better make it two."

"What brand?" the Indian clerk asked.

She frowned as stared at the variety of packs behind the clerk. "I'm not sure. What do you recommend?"

"What kind do you normally smoke?" he asked.

"I don't. I'm just starting now," she answered.

Without batting an eye, the clerk turned around and grabbed two random packages. "I got you two different kinds," he said. "You can decide which one you like better." He then threw in a pack of matches.

Lady Jaye smiled at him, paid for her items and left the store. She reached the boardwalk and was pleased to see that there were only a handful of people around. She removed one of the cigarette packs and the matches, and after a little bit of fumbling around, got one of the cigarettes lit.

She took a deep drag, and immediately started coughing. Embarrassed, she took a quick look around to see if anyone saw her. Her second puff resulted in less coughing. She stood at the edge of the boardwalk, where she leaned on the railing. She wrapped the brown paper bag tightly around her bottle, and then unscrewed the cap and took a long drink. She again looked around the boardwalk, this time checking for cops. Not that she was afraid of the long term affects of a public drunkenness charge, but getting arrested would really put a damper on her day.

The boardwalk appeared to be free of all law enforcement, so she took another long drink. She was getting the hang of smoking, and finished off her first cigarette. She quickly lit the second one and then leaned on the railing to look out over the ocean.

She stayed there for several minutes, lulled by the monotony of the waves. The beer she had drank had long ago entered her system, which was making it hard for her to hold on to coherent thoughts. However, as she watched the waves crash against the beach she wondered again how her repeating day was even possible.

However, when the bottle and more than half the pack of cigarettes were finished, she realized she truly didn't care anymore. She threw out her empty bottle and stumbled down the boardwalk. After a few hundred feet she came to a tattoo parlor and her face lit up.

She walked in and proceeded to take in the hundreds of designs scattered throughout the walls of the tattoo parlor. She saw that they were broken down into general categories, and immediately went to the section with the Celtic description.

"Can I help you?" a gruff voice said from behind the counter.

"I want a tattoo," she said with a slight slur.

"You came to the right place. Do you know what you're looking for?" he asked.

"No," Lady Jaye answered as she continued to scan through the designs. "Ooh! I think this one is kind of cool."

The man came around from behind the counter and out into the shop to where Lady Jaye was standing. He looked at her selection, which was a series of interlocking shapes that formed a half-inch band. "That would work well around a wrist or ankle," he suggested.

Lady Jaye nodded. "I think my ankle would work," she said. "Do you have any Army tats?"

He pointed to a board on the opposite side of the room. She quickly headed over and chose another design - a red, white and blue ribbon next to a four leaf clover and the word 'Honor'. "That's kind of appropriate," she giggled. "Can that go anywhere?"

The tall bald man leered at her. "Sure. How much have you had to drink?" he asked.

"Enough to get me in here," she answered.

"Maybe you should sober up first. I'm not a big fan of working on drunk customers. Too many come back the next morning all pissed off."

"Don't worry. I can guarantee you I won't be back in the morning," she promised. He continued to leer so she continued. "Look, I'll sign whatever no-fault papers you want, I just really want to get a tattoo now."

The man crossed his arms and Lady Jaye thought she was going to be thrown out of the store. However, he relaxed his stance and said, "Fine. You sign the right papers and I'll take care of you. Which one did you want?"

"Both of them," Lady Jaye answered. "And I'm going to want the name 'Dash' tattooed on my ass."

Two hours later, Lady Jaye gingerly walked out of the parlor. It had taken a large amount of cash and an endless amount of paper signing, but she finally convinced 'Mookie' it was worth his time to tattoo her.

Even though she had lost most of her buzz, and three different areas of her body were crying out in pain, she was happy with her decision. She chuckled to herself as she imagined what Flint's reaction would be to her newly acquired artwork. Her laughing quickly stopped as she realized he would never see it. She then decided that it was time to get her buzz back.

Two blocks down from the tattoo parlor was the first bar Lady Jaye found. It didn't look too appealing from the outside, but she wasn't a picky lady at the moment. She wrinkled her nose at the stale beer stink that assaulted her senses the moment she opened the door.

Despite the fact that it was just barely dinnertime, the bar area was crowded with men and women. As Lady Jaye approached them, she saw that the clientele were not the standard post-work happy hour crowd. Most looked like they had been drinking away the majority of the afternoon.

Lady Jaye squeezed her way into an opening at the bar. Her newly tattooed arm brushed against one of the men, and she couldn't help gasping at the pain. The man turned towards her. "I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" he asked.

"It wasn't your fault. I got a brand new tattoo and it's still really sore," she answered.

"Sweet," he said with a smile. Lady Jaye realized that the 'man' looked to be barely over the legal drinking age. "So is it your first?" he asked.

"It is. I've always wanted one, but never found the time to do it. And now, I've got nothing but time, so I went ahead and got it done."

He raised his bottle in a toast. "I hear you. So can I get you a drink? My name's Brian, by the way."

"It's nice to meet you Brian, and I would love a drink. Whatever is on tap is fine."

Brian signaled for the bartender and ordered the beer. He then turned back to Lady Jaye. "So do you have a name, or should I keep calling you 'you'?"

Lady Jaye smiled. "Alison and thank you for the beer," she said as she reached for the freshly poured glass. She was in the process of taking her first sip when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"You're in my spot," a gravelly voice said.

Lady Jaye turned to find a bleached blond woman holding a half-smoked cigarette in one hand and a mostly empty glass in the other. "I'm sorry…" she began but was cut off.

"Damn, Brian I leave you alone for two minutes and you go and pick up someone new."

Lady Jaye cocked an eyebrow at the woman. She appeared to be at least twice Brian's age, if not three times as old. A second blondish woman joined the woman's side. She shot Lady Jaye a dirty look. "You got a problem or somethin'? Linda asked you nicely to move."

"I'm going," Lady Jaye mumbled. She was trying hard to restrain herself. She reached for her beer, and out of the corner of her eye saw the punch coming. She deftly avoided it, but all thoughts of restraint left her mind.

She was on her feet in seconds, and her fist connected with Linda's cheek moments later. Linda was momentarily stunned, but her friend was surprisingly quick. She retaliated by swinging her pocketbook towards Lady Jaye's head. Lady Jaye ducked, but the oversized bag still grazed the back of her head.

It added a new source of pain, so she charged the woman. The two fell to the ground in a heap, with Lady Jaye on top. She was able to get a couple of punches in before the woman began to claw at her face.

"Oh my Gawd! Patty!" Linda shrieked. "Someone call the cops, we've been assaulted!"

Lady Jaye turned towards Linda. Patty still had her fingernails on her face, and Lady Jaye was doing her best to keep her eyeballs intact. "Sweetheart, you started this!" Lady Jaye pointed out and was rewarded with a kick to her back.

She groaned, cursed and then got off of Patty to deal with Linda. She pulled her arm back to throw the punch, but a pair of strong male arms wrapped around her. "Stay out of this Fl…" She almost said "Flint," but caught herself.

"Brian, get your hands off of her!" shrieked Linda.

Lady Jaye wiggled out of his grasp and put her hands up. Her almost-slip made her realize how ridiculous her current situation was. "Alright, ladies, calm down. I'm sorry if I…"

She was cut off by a punch from Linda who started shrieking something unintelligible. "Fine. I'm trying to take the high road here, but if you want the asskicking, I'm happy to give it to you."

She took a couple of steps towards Linda and Patty but froze once the bar door was thrown open and two cops walked in.

An hour later she sat alone on a cot in a cell. When she had first been brought into the station, she was thrown into a cell with Patty and Linda, but the cops quickly realized that was a bad idea. The three had been separated and Lady Jaye hadn't seen a police officer since.

She leaned back against the cool hard wall. Any buzz she had earlier was now long gone. Her head was pounding; her stomach felt awful and her body ached in so many places. She felt herself begin to doze off, but she woke up moments later when she heard footsteps come down the hall.

"Ma'am we didn't find any ID on you so I'm going to need your name, address and a contact's phone number," the tall mustached officer said.

Lady Jaye remained silent. She had no intention of giving up her identity. "You're just going to make this much harder on yourself if you don't cooperate," the officer threatened. When Lady Jaye still didn't answer after a few moments he spoke again. "Fine. You can spend the night in jail. Maybe you'll be more cooperative in the morning."

Lady Jaye waited until he was out of earshot. "Don't count on it," she said.


	7. Day 6

The next morning she woke up as expected, back in her bed. She ran her hand over her arm where a few hours ago she had a tattoo. However, now her skin was clear. Her mind, though, was numb She had come to a decision the night before during her time alone in her cell. She was determined to end this day one way or another.

She went through the motions of the morning. When Flint woke up she pretended nothing was wrong. They went out to the field for the impromptu PT, and afterwards she returned to her room. She had spent almost an hour in the shower debating her options. She knew what she had to do, but she just hoped she had the courage to go through with it.

Later that afternoon, after Flint had ordered them to their Skystrikers, she took off running for the airfield. Instead of stopping at her plane, she raced past it and began to climb into Flint's plane.

"Jaye what are you doing?" Flint asked as he stood below the ladder.

She waved him off. "Just take my Skystriker."

He stared at her a moment longer, shrugged and then ran off to her plane. Lady Jaye climbed into the cockpit, took a deep breath and brought the plane into the sky. Everything was fine at first, but as soon as she shot off her first missile, she noticed a change in the controls.

Her heart began pounding. Being a member of GI Joe meant that they would often be putting their lives in danger. There might even be a time when someone would be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice. She always wondered if she would have the strength to do it if the time came, and she had now learned that she could. However, she was still scared out of her mind.

She made a conscious decision to not alert any of the other Joes to her situation. She hoped that if she were the one to be killed then Flint's life would be spared. An alarm on her console brought her out of her thoughts and back to the situation at hand.

"Lady Jaye you have a Rattler on your tail," Flint announced.

"I see him," she said as calmly as possible. "I got it under control."

"It doesn't look like it," Flint said. "Hang in there a moment, I'm coming."

She was going to tell him that she was fine, but a small explosion destroyed her control panel. She began to cough as the cockpit filled with smoke.

"Lady Jaye!" she heard Flint scream through her headset. She was pinned against her seat as the gravitation forces built up. She tried to look out the windows to see if she could spot Flint's plane.

Just before she hit the ground she heard Ace announce, "Breaker, we just lost Flint and Lady Jaye's going down."

_No!_ she thought moments before her world went black.


	8. Day 7

What seemed like seconds later, she woke with a start in her bed. She let out a guttural scream and jumped out of the bed. "Okay! I give up! What do you want from me?" she yelled into the room.

Flint was out of bed in a flash. "Alison, what's the matter?"

"Everything! I can't do this anymore!"

"Do what?" he asked in a panic.

She started hysterically laughing. "I can't even kill myself."

Flint walked over and put his hand on her shoulders. "Alison, you're scaring the hell out of me."

She pulled out of his grasp and walked over to her dresser. She laid her hands on the edge and looked into the mirror. She saw that she was wide-eyes and hysterical looking, but there wasn't a scratch on her. In frustration she smacked at the items on the dresser, some of which went flying towards the ground.

She could see Flint in the mirror. He gave her such a look of panic that she couldn't meet his gaze. She looked down at her dresser and noticed a gold locket lying next to her overturned jewelry box. She picked it up and stared at it. It was the locket that the old gypsy woman had given to her months ago. "I wonder…" she said out loud but stopped. "I have to go," she suddenly announced.

Flint shook his head and grabbed a hold of her shoulders again. "Alison, you need some help. Let me take you to Doc or Lifeline, and you can talk this over with someone. I don't want you to do something drastic or stupid."

"Dash, that's not necessary. I'm sorry about my outburst earlier. I had a horrible nightmare that freaked me out. I think I was out of it for a few minutes."

Flint frowned at her. "We all know how stressful this job is. You shouldn't feel ashamed if the pressure is starting to get to you."

Lady Jaye's cell phone rang. They both turned to look at it, and Lady Jaye walked over to answer it. She played dumb to Scarlett's questions as she realized it would be her ticket to leave the room. "Scarlett needs help finding the Alcatraz file," she explained as she walked over to where her uniform hung on the chair. "I need to go to personnel."

She quickly changed into her uniform, ignoring Flint's protest. As she turned to leave she gave him a quick kiss. "It's fine, really," she said. She then left the room. Instead of turning towards the personnel office, she headed quickly to the parking lot.

An hour and a half later she arrived at the Fairgrounds the Joe team had investigated six months earlier. She was dismayed to find that the field was empty. She then chastised herself for thinking that the carnival would remain in one place for six months.

She stood unmoving for a few moments as she debated her next course of action. She needed to find out where the carnival was located now. She noticed a pole off in the distance that had a few flyers stapled to it.

She realized that the Fairgrounds were a busy place in the summer as she looked through all the posters announcing what the newest attraction was. Eight sheets later, she found the carnival she was looking for. She ripped the paper from the pole and walked back to her car. She then drove into town, and looked for signs to the public library.

She walked in, registered for internet time and began her search for the 'Lots O' Fun Amusement' company. When her hour was nearly up, she finally found a site that had a schedule listed. She was relieved to learn that the carnival was still touring, and the latest stop was within driving distance. She printed out directions and got back into her car.

She arrived almost three hours later. She parked her car in the grass, and hurried towards the booths. She took a quick look around to see if she could spot Madame Fatima's tent.

"We don't open until six," a gruff voice said.

Lady Jaye was startled and turned to face the man. He was an imposing figure, but she wasn't about to be derailed from her search. "I'm just here to see a friend," she lied seamlessly.

The man crossed his arms and glared at her. "Sure you are," he answered.

Lady Jaye was afraid that he was going to escort her to her car, but another carnie ran over. "Jumbo! The clown tent is about to collapse!"

Jumbo glared at Lady Jaye again. "You need to leave. If I catch you snooping around here I will personally throw you out."

Lady Jaye nodded and began to walk back to her car. When he was out of sight, she quickly turned back around. As inconspicuously as possible, she maneuvered through the booths, looking for Madame Fatima. Twenty minutes later she had covered all of the grounds, and she hadn't found the psychic's tent.

"Didn't I tell you to get out of here?" the same gruff voice asked.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I'm just trying to find Madame Fatima."

"Madame Fatima?" he asked. "She left us months ago."

Lady Jaye was shocked by the news. In her search she never gave a thought to the idea that Madame Fatima wouldn't still be with the carnival.

"Lady, I don't have time for this, and I have no patience for trespassers. It's time for you to go."

"Okay. Just one more question. Do you know where she is?" Lady Jaye asked.

"No idea. She's really not my problem anymore."

Lady Jaye drove back to base in a worse frame of mind then when she left. She spent the return trip trying to figure out how she was going to hunt down the old woman. She got out of her car, and walked into Headquarters. She paused for a moment as she debated her next move.

"Lady Jaye, thank God. We've been searching for you all afternoon," Scarlett said as she ran up to Lady Jaye. Scarlett's face was blotchy and her eyes were red-rimmed. "Honey, I don't know how to tell you this…"

Lady Jaye cut her off. "I already know Flint was killed. I need your help to track someone down."

"Wait a minute, you know already? But…"

Lady Jaye once again cut her off. "Scarlett I know how this looks, but I really don't have time to explain. I just need to hunt down an old psychic woman."

Scarlett paused and Lady Jaye waited for her to voice her objections again. However a look of understanding crossed her face. Lady Jaye held up her hand to stop her friend from speaking. "Are you getting ready to tell me a story about David?"

Scarlett visibly recoiled. "How did you know that?"

"You told me about him before," Lady Jaye said. When Scarlett began to protest, Lady Jaye continued. "Sure, it hasn't happened in your timeline, but it has in mine. Six months ago, on one of our missions, I ran into a psychic, Madame Fatima. Somehow she cursed me. I think the key lies in this locket," Lady Jaye said as she pulled the chain out of her pocket.

Scarlett gaped at her. It took her a few moments to process all that Lady Jaye said. "Cursed you? How?"

"This isn't the first time I've gone through Flint's death. And I know that if I don't find this Fatima woman, it won't be the last."

"Is this why you had that episode this morning? Flint asked me to talk to you about it. He was really worried about you."

Lady Jaye nodded. "I woke up and knew that by quarter after one this afternoon, he would be dead."

Scarlett embraced her. "That's awful. It's bad enough to go through the death of a loved one, but to have advanced warning…wait if you knew it was coming why didn't you stop it?"

"You don't think I've tried? That's why I left the base so abruptly this morning. For the first time I had a lead on what to do. It's too late for today, but I might be able to salvage tomorrow."

Scarlett took a step back. Lady Jaye knew that her friend was having a hard time swallowing her story. "Shana, listen, you can think whatever you want about me, but please humor me for the next hour or two and help me find this woman. I promise you that if you remember this conversation tomorrow morning, you can personally pick out the loony bin I get sent to."

Scarlett hesitated for a moment longer, but then shrugged her shoulders. The two headed towards one of the computer rooms, and each grabbed a terminal. Lady Jaye was once again reminded of searching through a haystack to find the elusive needle. She was surprised at how many search engine hits came up for Madame Fatima. Most were obviously international women, or fictional ones and she scanned through page after page with no luck.

"Lady Jaye, come look at this," Scarlett called out. "Is this her?" she asked when Lady Jaye reached her terminal.

Lady Jaye glanced at the screen and then shook her head. "No, that's not…wait a minute." She studied the screen and then smiled. "I think it is her. It's an old photo, she's aged quite a bit, but I'm pretty sure that is her."

"Her real name is Laura Richards," Scarlett said.

Lady Jaye returned to her workstation, her spirits renewed. She began a new search for Laura Richards, who had been a very busy psychic. She had made several appearances, and Lady Jaye made a point of calling every phone number listed on every website. After an hour, she had a pretty detailed history for Madame Fatima, but she was no closer to finding her present location.

Once again, Scarlett came through for her. She walked over to Lady Jaye with a sheet of paper in her hand. "I went on a hunch that she would have a criminal record. Here is her official information."

Lady Jaye looked at the last known address listed and stood up to leave. "Great, that's not too far from here."

"You're going now?" Scarlett asked as she looked at the clock. "Isn't it kind of late? Why don't you wait until tomorrow?"

"I'm not going to have a tomorrow," Lady Jaye said as she left the room.

Lady Jaye felt a twinge of guilt as she knocked on the door. She looked at her watch and realized the residents of the house were not going to be happy having a visitor at this late hour. She felt even worse when an obviously just awoken elderly woman answered the door. The woman looked her up and down and then asked, "Can I help you?"

"I'm sorry to bother you," Lady Jaye apologized. "I desperately need to speak to Laura Richards. Is she here?"

"Oh dearie, she doesn't live here anymore."

Lady Jaye's heart fell. "You don't happen to know where she does live?"

"I do!" the woman said excitedly. "I sometimes receive her mail, so I made a point of getting her forwarding address. Let me find my book."

Lady Jaye waited a few minutes until she returned. "Here you go," the woman said as she handed her a piece of paper. I have a couple things here that I haven't had a chance to send to her. Do you think you could bring them to her?"

Lady Jaye smiled. "I will. Thank you for your help." She walked to her car and turned on the interior light to read the address. She stopped once more at a convenience store for a map and a coffee before she was off to the nursing home listed.

She arrived a short time later. She ran up to the front door, and to her dismay found it was locked. She pressed the doorbell and anxiously waited for someone to come. A security guard finally opened the door. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but visiting hours are long over."

Lady Jaye was momentarily taken aback. The idea of visiting hours never occurred to her. The guard turned to leave, but she called out, "Wait. Can you just tell me if Laura Richards is a resident here?"

The guard frowned. "Are you family?" he asked.

Lady Jaye decided a white lie would help matters along. "She's my great aunt. It's been a while since I've seen her, though."

"Then I'm sorry to have to tell you this. Ms. Richards died a few hours ago."


	9. Day 8

Lady Jaye woke up, yet again, at 8:03 with the security guard's revelation resonating through her mind. Madame Fatima was dead. And with her, all hope of Lady Jaye learning how to end the day.

She heard Flint begin to stir next to her. Lady Jaye shut her eyes and pretended she was still asleep. She didn't have the energy to face the day again. She heard him get out of bed. Once she was sure he was in the bathroom, she sat up, grabbed her phone and turned it off. She then lay back down in her bed.

Flint came out of the bathroom and crawled back into bed with her. He lay there quietly until Beachhead made the PT announcement. He then gently shook her awake. "Al, we need to go. Beachhead called for an impromptu PT."

"Go on with out me," she said quietly. "I'm not feeling well."

"I don't think Beachhead is going to take too kindly to that. It's probably better to just get up and get it over with."

She rolled over and looked at him. "Please just go. I don't care what happens later, I can't do it right now."

Flint hesitated for a moment longer before he got up. "Okay. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Once he left her room, she got up and walked over to her dresser. She opened the jewelry box and took out the locket. As she looked at the initials on the back she came to a realization. The security guard had said that it had only been a few hours since Mrs. Richards had died. It was entirely possible that she was still alive.

Lady Jaye quickly got dressed and ran out of her room.

She arrived at the nursing home, which was much more inviting during the daylight hours. She tried to calm her beating heart as she approached the visitors' desk. She smiled at the older woman who was manning the desk. "I'm here to see Laura Richards."

The old woman beamed. "Oh! Laura will be so pleased. She hasn't had many visitors since she moved here. Room 346," the woman said as she handed Lady Jaye a visitors' badge.

"Thank you" Lady Jaye said and headed to the elevators. A short time later she was standing outside of the room. She raised her hand in a fist ready to knock, but she paused for a second. She was afraid she was going to find she was already too late, and she knew that she couldn't handle another disappointment.

She took a deep breath and knocked. She let out the breath when she heard a familiar voice call out, "Come in."

Lady Jaye walked in and wondered if the old woman would remember her. She debated how to start the conversation, but Laura beat her to it. "I've been waiting for you," she said. "It's been what? A week?"

Lady Jaye stopped in her tracks. That was a question she hadn't been expecting. "You know about the repeating day?"

"Of course I do. Isn't that why you're here?"

"Yes, but I didn't think…" she shook her head and decided to cut right to the chase. "It doesn't matter. What can I do to stop it?"

"Are you sure you want it to stop?" Laura asked. She shifted in the chair she was sitting in.

"Yes. I can't keep waking up in the morning next to Dash only to watch him die a few hours later." The woman didn't respond, so Lady Jaye continued to talk. "I've tried everything. I warned him ahead of time, I tried talking to some of my friends about it, I've tried to run away from it, and I even tried killing myself. And yet I wake up every damn morning at 8:03 to watch the day unfold again."

"And you believe that I have the power to stop it?" the old woman asked.

"I didn't at first. But once I found the locket, I knew."

"So I imagine you've accepted my powers?"

Lady Jaye felt her anger begin to rise. "You did this just to teach me a lesson?" she asked in disgust.

"No," Laura said. "I just wanted to help. As I saw a few months ago, your lover was destined to die. I had hoped that by giving you the locket it would help keep him safe. However, my powers aren't what they used to be. Do you still have the locket?"

Lady Jaye nodded and pulled the necklace out of her pocket. She handed it to the old woman. Laura took it into her hands, closed her eyes and said a silent chant. When she was done she opened her eyes. "Are you sure you are ready for the day to end?" Lady Jaye nodded and the woman continued. "Even if it means Dashiell dies?"

Lady Jaye recoiled from the question. She had hoped that by ending the repeating day, Flint would survive. "He's still going to die?" she asked quietly.

"I honestly don't know. Like I said, I tried to prevent all this. However, I am old and weak, and you know what will happen to me in a few hours."

Lady Jaye hesitated before answering. She didn't want to live without Flint, but the repeating day needed to stop. The thought that he would still die didn't change her resolve. As she had said, she couldn't keep reliving his death. "Yes, I'm sure."

The woman handed the locket back. "Wear this to bed tonight, and one way or another this day will end."


	10. Day 1 take two

Lady Jaye woke up the next morning and immediately realized something was different. The light in the room was brighter. She quickly rolled over and gasped when she saw an empty bed. The realization hit her full force. The old woman had been right - the day had ended. But now she had to deal with Flint's death. She quickly dissolved into a fit of sobs.

She continued her crying until she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Alison, what's wrong?"

Her tears stopped instantly and she whipped around. "Dash!" she yelled out. "You're alive!" She jumped into his arms. She then looked down at the clock and when she saw it was almost 9:30 she hugged him tighter.

"Of course I'm alive. Why wouldn't I be?" he asked.

"When I didn't see you in bed, I thought…" she trailed off as she debated how much to tell him.

"I just had to go to the bathroom," Flint replied. "But why would you think I was killed? You don't normally wake up convinced the worst has happened."

She ignored his question as she pulled away. She grabbed her phone and was relieved to see that no one had called. She then turned back to Flint. "Did Beachhead order a mandatory PT?"

Flint shook his head. "Not that I know of. Alison, talk to me. What is going on?"

She shook her head and looked from the phone, to the clock to Flint. "You'll never believe me if I tell you," she said.

"Okay. How about this - why don't we get something to eat off base and you try to explain?" he said as he got out of bed and began to pick up the clothes that had been strewn on the floor.

"Fair enough," Lady Jaye said. "Where do you want to go?"

As he poked his head through his t-shirt he replied, "I'm not sure why but I'm really in the mood for Joe's diner."

His comment started a round of Lady Jaye's laughter.

Flint pushed his empty plate away and leaned forward. He placed his elbows on the table, and his head on his hands. "So are you ready to talk?"

Lady Jaye groaned. "We can't just chalk it up to a temporary mental lapse on my part? I think I was just in desperate need of some greasy food and coffee," she said lightly.

Flint frowned at her. "Is this one of those cases that I push you to talk, or should I just leave it alone?"

"Honestly, just leave it alone. I had a nightmare; one that I thought would never end. But it seems like it's over now," _or at least I hope so_ she continued silently. Even though it was obvious the day was going in a different direction, it was still Saturday the fourth. She wouldn't rest easy until the day was truly over and done.

"It seems?" Flint asked

Lady Jaye leaned back in her chair with a sigh. Part of her really wanted to tell him what happened. She knew the one version of Flint had believed her without question the day she told him the truth about what had been happening to her. Then, she had been able to offer proof by predicting events that were going to happen. Now, she had nothing but her crazy behavior and an even crazier story.

But, she really did need to tell him something. "Do you remember when we went to that carnival to look for the Dreadnoks?' she asked.

He thought for a moment and then nodded his head. "I do. That was such a waste of time."

"Right. And remember that you found me having my fortune told by Madame Fatima?" Flint again nodded so she continued. "She told me that I would lose someone close to me, and hinted that it would be you."

"Al, you know you can't take those fly by night psychics seriously."

"I know, and I didn't at first. But then I got a glimpse into what it would be like to lose you." She purposely kept the details vague, and she hoped that he wouldn't question her on it.

Flint sighed. "It's a scary thought, and to be honest, it's something I worry about every now and then as well."

Lady Jaye smiled at him and grabbed his hand. "I guess there's nothing we can do about it except for making the most of the time we spend together."

Flint looked at his watch. "Do you need to head back to base?" After Lady Jaye shook her head no he asked, " So, what do you want to do with the rest of our day?"

Lady Jaye smiled. "It doesn't matter to me. I have absolutely nothing planned."

Later that night the two walked back to Flint's room. "You sure you don't have a problem staying in my room?" Flint asked.

"Not at all," Lady Jaye replied. She knew it was easier on him to stay in his room when he had an early morning meeting. Besides, waking up in his room would be a nice change of pace.

They reached his room. He unlocked the door and the two walked in. He immediately went over to his desk. "I just need to review some of this paperwork. It shouldn't take me more than ten minutes or so."

Lady Jaye nodded and picked up one of the bags she had been carrying. She grabbed one of the novels and went over to the couch. Once she sat down, she realized she had no desire to read. She was exhausted, both mentally and physically.

Today's version of events was far better than any of the previous days. After the diner they had gone to a matinee at one of the Lowes theaters. It was early afternoon by the time the movie had started, and Lady Jaye spent the first half dreading the arrival of 1:15. She still expected some sort of disaster to befall them, but the time came and went without incident. After the movie they did some shopping, and stopped at a café for a light dinner. They then eventually made their way back to the base.

She looked up from her book to watch Flint. He had his back to her and was oblivious to the attention she was paying him. Her hand went to the locket that was still around her neck. She wondered if Madame Fatima's future had changed as well. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to give the nursing home a call to check on her.

"Flint, I'm going to head back to my room for a few minutes," she said nonchalantly.

"Okay," he said without looking up from his paperwork.

Lady Jaye felt like she was purposely deceiving him, but she knew her actions would just lead to another round of questions she couldn't answer. She hurried back to her room, and dialed the number of the nursing home from memory.

"Shady Acres" a pleasant voice answered.

Lady Jaye cleared her throat. "Hi, I just wanted to check on a resident of yours. Her name is Laura Richards."

The woman went silent for a moment. "Are you family?" she asked.

Lady Jaye felt yet another wave of déjà vu. This time, though, she stuck with a semblance of the truth. "No, she's just an old friend."

The woman sighed. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but Laura Richards passed away early this morning."

Lady Jaye's heart fell. "Do you have any information about a wake?" she asked.

"Yes, hold on," the woman replied.

Lady Jaye took the opportunity to walk over to her desk to get a piece of paper and pen. The woman came back to the line a few seconds later with the name of the funeral parlor. "Thank you. That was very helpful," Lady Jaye replied before hanging up the phone.

She felt a wave of sadness. She would have liked to thank the woman properly, but now she was too late. As she looked down again at the name of the funeral parlor, she decided she would ask for time off to go to the wake. She figured it was the least she could do.


	11. Epilogue

Epilogue

Flint's alarm went off before the sun had even begun to rise. Lady Jaye groaned as she realized how early it was. She heard Flint sit up in the bed and turn the alarm off. He then rolled back over to face her and give her a quick kiss. "I got to get up, but stay in bed."

She nodded and felt herself begin to doze off. However, once she realized that it was a brand new day she sat up.

Flint gave her a look of concern. "Al, you okay? Did you have another nightmare?"

"No, not this time. I just…it's Sunday right?"

"It is and General Austin should be arriving within the hour. Why the man insists on ruining Sunday mornings, I will never know," he grumbled. He then climbed back into bed next to her. "If I knew you were going to be this awake, I would have set my alarm a few minutes earlier," Flint said huskily before he leaned over to kiss her.

"You are insatiable," she said with a grin and kissed him again.

He groaned as he pulled away. "I wish I didn't have to go," he said. His hand then went to the front of her neck. "What happened to that necklace you had on?"

Her hand quickly went to her neck as well. It came up empty, so she began to look around the bed. The necklace was nowhere to be seen. "It must have fallen off at some point. I'm sure it'll turn up," she said. However, she had a strong suspicion that she would not see the locket ever again.

"I'm sorry you lost it," Flint said. "Although honestly I'm sort of relieved. I don't know why but every time I looked at it, it gave me the creeps." He took a look at the clock and groaned again. "I really need to go," he said. He got out of bed, walked over to the dresser and put on his beret. He took a quick look in the mirror and then started for the door.

"I love you Dash," she called out.

"Love you too," he said as he walked out of the room.

Lady Jaye smiled as she got out of bed. Her hand went to her bare neck again. "Madame Fatima, if you're out there - thank you for the second chance.


End file.
